July 9, 2003 — Rolls-Royce plc has obtained exclusive worldwide rights to use Cool Chips plc’s solid-state cooling technology in gas turbine products for aerospace, defense, marine and energy applications, according to a news release.

Officials with U.K.-based Rolls-Royce said such a system should boost efficiency while reducing noise and emissions in advanced engine design. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cool Chips, a Gibraltar-based subsidiary of Borealis Exploration Ltd., produces wafer-like discs using quantum mechanical electron tunneling across a nanometer-scale gap as the primary cooling mechanism. It pumps heat from one side of the chip to the other, where it can be dissipated, making it ideal for cooling critical components in engines, or microprocessors and eventually replacing compressors in refrigerators and air conditioners, the company said.